A small rock in the Atlantic: 08/06/08

Puntagorda Market

Puntagorda is a village and municipality in the north west of the island. Every Saturday and Sunday, they have a farmers' market and craft fair in the Mercadillo, which is at the north of the village, near the Fayal picnic area.

Like most farmers' markets, the vegetables are fresher and cheaper than most supermarkets. There are also stalls selling organic wholemeal bread, sugar cane juice (with or without rum) cakes and meat. One stall just sold papayas.

The craft section had silver jewelry, hand-made furniture, leatherwork, and artwork prints.

Opening hours are Saturdays, 3 pm to 7 pm and 11 am to 3 pm.
The English version of the website is at http://mercadillo.puntagorda-lapalma.com/en.html?p=&lang=EN

Labels: Canaries, Canary islands, La Palma, market, Puntagorda

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Burr Marigolds

My father was a botanist, so he really looked forward to his first trip to La Palma. One of the plants he most hoped to find were burr marigolds - Bidens alba. But he later said he was trying not to hope too much in case he was disappointed.

That made me laugh, because they're an extremely common roadside weed. In fact they're a right nuisance for exactly the same reason that made them exciting to my father.

They have seeds that stick to your clothes. I mean really stick. A washing machine cycle won't shift the darn things. You have to pick them off one by one, and it's easy to get hundred of them. Small boys and dogs are particularly good collectors.

The local name for them is "Amorsecalo" which seems to be either a mangled version of "unrequited love" (because it's a pain, and hard to get rid of) or "Get it off, love", because you need help with the ones around the back.

Oh, and the butterfly is Colias crocea. The tops of the wings are prettier than the undersides, but they always settle like this, just to annoy photographers.

Labels: bidens alba. Colias crocea, Canaries, Canary Island fauna, Canary Island flora, Canary islands, La Palma, marigolds